Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that was used for fans of the band group Beatles.
On August 23, 1963 marked the earnest start of 'Beatlemania' on home ground in England since the Beatles released the single 'She Loves You', which then took first place on the British charts for seven weeks. It was especially young girls, who waited outside the Beatles TV studio for days, to get one of the few tickets to their concerts.
“Beatlemania: 'the screamers' and other tales of fandom” is an article about the Beatlemanias who was a fan group who choked the older generation. The sender is a music writer from “The Guardian” named Dorian Lynskey.
The expression “Beatlemania” allegedly coined when a radio reporter saw the fans behavior and
Went to the promoter who told him that the Beatles caused their reaction. “ A Radio Scotland reporter turned to Lothian and gasped, "For God's sake Andi, what's happening?" .."Don't worry, it's only… Beatlemania." A ticket to a Beatle concert was not easy to get, therefore young girls would go a little bit to fare, just to get a ticket. When Beatles was playing, the crowd was very noisy, the girls screamed a lot, and they were all happy to see their favorite bands. “"All the girls talked about marrying their favorite Beatle and I think that terrified our parents," says Linda Ihle, who was a 13-year-old”.
“Throughout 1963 there had been reports of teenage girls screaming, crying, fainting and chasing the band down the street”.
Teenage girls were crazy about the Beatles. Back then freedom and youth culture was new for older generation. “The media's attempts to explain this wild new development to bewildered adults were at best comically square ("Beatles Reaction Puzzles Even Psychologists". The older women did not understand the fans behavior; they thought that it was unacceptable and inappropriate. They were chock to see their daughters be so wild and.. It was crazy but at the same time it was logical, because for the first time young people were breaking free from the norms and liberate themselves. These girls were apart of creating a youth culture. “If you were a girl, especially one on the cusp of adolescence, Beatles fandom possessed an additional frisson”. The experience of seeing the Beatles live in the 60’s was more an auditory experience than a cultural phenomenon. You couldn’t really hear the band performed, but just the fans that screamed.
Paul Johnson wrote it as an insult that the teenager fans behavior was in a sense a Ritual. The fans heard the songs 100 times to celebrate themselves, freedom, power and youth therefore is as a ritual.
Some girls weren't at the age yet to permit a date and the boys at there age was not immature. They fantasize about the Beatles, because at that time they were hot. The Beatles were every girls dream. “ To abandon control – to scream, faint, dash about in mobs – was, in form if not in conscious intent, to protest the sexual repressiveness”. They had long hair, which attracted the girls, plus they loved there music and rock music become really popular in the 60’s.
What made the Beatlemanias different from the other “manias” was timing and television. The baby boom meant that there were more teenagers than there had been for Elvis and Sinatra. “The baby boom meant there were more teenagers than there had been for Elvis or Sinatra, with more money in their pockets”
Dorian Lynsket try to attract the reader’s attention by saying “.. Andi Lothian booked the Beatles, in the frozen January of 1963, only 15 people showed up The next time he brought them north of the border … No 1 album and three No 1 singles, and it was as if a hurricane had blown into town”. He starts by telling us how the Beatles turned 15 fans to a millions who where obsessed and screamed when they performed
Dorian Lynsket attention of the article is to introduce the term Beatlemania and what is was caused. It enlighten people of the sensation why is such a big thing in the 60’s to be an extreme fan. The main argument in the article is that teenage girls are not very different to the teenage girls in the 60’s. The indented readers are, whose who think that Beatlemania was one case scenario and who prejudice against the fan girls today, by explaining why these girls become extreme fans of a musician. Therefore the reader looks more kindly on especially teenage fan girls of today and in general Dorian Lynsket is sympathizing with this group of young people.
The language of the text is very formal and informative, and there is used a lot of logos. Example “The baby boom meant there were more teenagers than there had been for Elvis or Sinatra, with more money in their pockets, filled with a powerful sense that society was changing”
There is also used Patos in the way that Dorian Lynsket mentions Jan Myers “She bunked off school to cycle 20 miles to Heathrow to greet the band's flight. She crawled through the sewers under Abbey Road to hear them recording Rubber Soul through the floorboards”. This appealers to our emptions side.
We see ethos when the article is posted in the site “ Guardian” which is founded by John Edward Taylor in 1821. “In 2011 the Guardian's groundbreaking journalism and innovation were recognized at the Press Awards where it was named Newspaper of the Year for its partnership”. The psychologist, Beatles fans, expert and more, are all used to strengthen Ethos. Also Dorian Lynsket is a well knowing music journalist.
Today the reaction is quite the same, but today fandom is more complex and more self-documenting. I think the fans gets more and more extreme by the years. Back in the sixties TV becomes a major force in the rock music as a network to attract young audience. Today we have our computers and phones that we use to hear music. We have a way easy access to music and finding facts about your idol. One Direction who are “hot” among the teenager girls today, just like the Beatles ones were. These girls are obsessed and are so indicated to their Idol. Ex.“One Direction fans go into meltdown on social media over Zayn”. The list goes on and on about extreme fans devotion and not just boy bands, its just from rapper to actors. Today is normal to fantasize about an idol, even boys do it.
--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. http://www.theguardian.com/gnm-archive/2002/jun/06/1
[ 2 ]. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvshowbiz/video-1170242/One-Direction-fans-meltdown-social-media-Zayn.html 